Wind Turbine Decommissioning: Dismantling, Demolition, Recycling, Reuse and Repurposing (2nd Edition)
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 24 November 2026 | Viewed by 235
Special Issue Editors
Interests: repurposing wind turbine blades; wind energy; green hydrogen; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: fiber-reinforced composite materials; construction materials; wind blade materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue of Sustainability, entitled “Wind Turbine Decommissioning: Dismantling, Demolition, Recycling, Reuse and Repurposing (2nd Edition)”.
The aim of this Special Issue is to report on the current research, design and implementation of all aspects of wind turbine decommissioning. Sustainable approaches, including circular economy opportunities in decommissioning, need to be published so that the industry undertaking these activities understands the pros and cons of different decommissioning pathways for all wind turbine components. There is almost no research published on decommissioning techniques used for foundations and towers, one of which is explosive demolition. Discussions on these topics are often dismissed as these components are made of concrete and/or steel and are assumed to be recycled responsibly. Little has been reported on the life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), techno-economic analysis (TEA) and social impacts of decommissioning activities.
In this Special Issue, original research articles, case study articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Demolition of wind turbine foundations and sustainable recycling/disposal or end-of-life pathways.
- Demolition or dismantling of wind turbine towers and sustainable recycling/remanufacturing or repurposing pathways.
- Dismantling or removal of wind turbine generators and gear boxes and sustainable pathways, including strategic and critical raw materials such as rare earth elements, cobalt, copper and nickel.
- Novel methods for rapid evaluation and characterization of materials and structural properties of decommissioned wind turbines.
- Removal of fiber composite wind turbine blades and sustainable recycling, and reuse or repurposing pathways for all blade materials (not only the FRP materials).
- Removal of wind turbine nacelles and hub cones and sustainable recycling, reuse or repurposing pathways of the fiber composites and other materials.
- New approaches for handling carbon fiber composite materials from wind turbine blades and nacelles.
- Offshore-specific studies of sustainable wind turbine decommissioning, dismantling, recycling, reuse or repurposing pathways.
- Value chains for end-of-life wind turbine components and materials.
Innovative case studies relevant to any of the above topics are encouraged.
The first edition can be found here:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/1AFV86T0I3
Dr. Paul Leahy
Dr. Lawrence C. Bank
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- wind turbine
- decommissioning
- dismantling
- demolition
- recycling
- reuse and repurposing
- life cycle assessment (LCA)
- life cycle costing (LCC)
- techno economic analysis (TEA)
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